Findings of the Commission on the Future of Transportation in Massachusetts

In January 2018, Governor Baker established the Commission on the Future of Transportation
to focus on 5 key areas with an outlook to the year 2040:

-Climate and resiliency
-Transportation electrification
-Autonomous and connected vehicles
-Transit and mobility services
-Land use and demographic trends

In December 2018, the Commission completed its report -- Choices for Stewardship:
Recommendations to Meet the Transportation Future. The report purposefully focuses on the
big picture “what” and “why” and is less specific on “how”. It is not a prediction of the future,
nor a list of projects. As a result, the report’s recommendations are a set of guidance -- based
upon the facts and trends available – the Commission believes help prepare Massachusetts for
the range of possible futures.

The report, nearly 240 pages, is in two volumes.
Volume 1 has three parts.
Section One presents the highlights of the Facts, Trends and Issues in the 5 key areas.
Section Two is about scenario planning used to process the information in Section One to
describe plausible future scenarios that were then used to helped evaluate recommendations.
Section Three presents 18 Total Recommendations in 5 Major Sections.
1. Modernize existing transit and transportation assets to more effectively and sustainably
move more people
2. Create a 21st century mobility infrastructure to capitalize on emerging changes in
transportation technology and behavior
3. Substantially reduce Green House Gas emissions from transportation sector
4. Coordinate and modernize policies and investment related to land use, economic
development, housing, and transportation
5. Make changes to current transportation governance and financial structures

Volume 2 consists of Background Books with links to dozens of articles and reports.